The pedestrian pilot project on Church Street has been running since June, but today we’re learning that costs are more than projected. Beth Macdonell reports. <\/p>\n
Toronto is looking at having more pedestrian-friendly streets throughout the city, where people can walk arm-in-arm from store to restaurant without worrying about oncoming traffic or waiting for street lights to change. <\/p>\n
There are very few streets in the city that consistently stay car-free for longer than a weekend. There\u2019s Market Street near the bustling St. Lawrence Market, and now there is Church Street<\/a>, where a pedestrian-only space exists between Wellesley and Alexander streets until Aug. 21.<\/p>\n In a motion that passed about a week after the Church Street pilot launched<\/a> on June 19, city council voted in favour of finding more suitable streets in Toronto for seasonal and year-round pedestrianization, starting next year. <\/p>\n Coun. Josh Matlow proposed the motion, which passed 16-6. The Ward 12 councillor explained in a recent interview with CTV News Toronto that there is an \u201cenormous desire\u201d for more car-free streets and that Toronto is \u201clagging behind\u201d other Canadian cities, like Montreal. <\/p>\n \u201cWe see that in cities around the world pedestrian streets are destinations where people get excited about going, meeting up with friends, going out with their families, and we just don\u2019t have enough of those places in Toronto,\u201d Matlow said in an interview on Monday. <\/p>\n Paul Hess, a professor at the University of Toronto\u2019s Department of Geography and Planning, says there is a real potential to pedestrianize more streets in Toronto, noting that there are different ways to go about doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one on Church Street is kind of a classic context where it\u2019s a commercial street and pedestrianization often attracts people to go there to enjoy as a public space and also to use the businesses,\u201d Hess said, adding that it is a huge boon for tourism and supporting the local economy. <\/p>\n Hess says pedestrian streets can also be used to calm traffic and provide spaces where people can safely walk. In Montreal, for example, Hess says there are short pedestrian segments that create corridors through neighbourhoods<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBarcelona is creating similar kinds of pedestrian corridors, which allow people to cross neighbourhoods and districts without worrying about traffic and that can really increase pedestrian comfort,\u201d Hess said. <\/p>\n Church Street pilot so far<\/p>\n Matlow\u2019s motion suggested learning from the ongoing Church Street pilot to inform the city\u2019s decision, though he said it is not the only model to learn from. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen on Church Street is the street has been packed every day and every night,\u201d Matlow said.<\/p>\n The pilot launched at a time when the FIFA World Cup was coming into full gear in Toronto and when the Pride Festival was about to kick off. <\/p>\n Speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference on Friday, Mayor Olivia Chow said \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of people have visited Church Street during the pilot so far.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see at the end of the pilot what kind of results they have, but certainly, because the weather is great, there are a lot of people on the street right now,\u201d Chow said when asked if she would like to see more pedestrian zones throughout the city. <\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s see what the BIA (says) and look at the local residents\u2019 association. I don\u2019t want to pre-empt what they want to do after this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Matlow says Toronto can do a lot better with regards to its public spaces. <\/p>\n \u201cI love our city, but Toronto has always reached for the height of mediocrity when it comes to our public spaces,\u201d Matlow said, adding that the city can do a lot better. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a program to set up to support streets that would like to become pedestrian streets.\u201d<\/p>\n Hess said the model for pedestrian-friendly streets differs in North America from Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cEurope\u2019s a little different, where the main shopping streets in many cities have been pedestrianized for decades, but New York has pedestrianized Times Square and other little bits, it\u2019s been very successful,\u201d Hess said in an interview, saying that while Toronto is pushing for more of these areas, it is not a familiar concept for the city. <\/p>\n The professor explained that this is partly because of how streets are used in Toronto and noted how the city had to negotiate with police over the cost of security for the Church Street pilot.<\/p>\n \u201cThat tells me we haven\u2019t worked out a system to make this (pedestrian-friendly streets) happen,\u201d Hess said. <\/p>\n Concerns of security costs<\/p>\n The total cost of security comes just shy of $500,000, which a spokesperson from Coun. Chris Moise\u2019s office said it includes \u201cin-kind contributions.\u201d That figure, according to the councillor\u2019s office, includes all security-related costs. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause the police required 24\/7 security + 12 hour security, the $500K overall figure includes costs that the police required in order for them to feel comfortable and sign off on the project,\u201d the statement reads, adding that the cost was initially quoted at $3 million.<\/p>\n Since this is the city\u2019s first project of its kind, Moise\u2019s office says they view the cost escalations as \u201cteething issues\u201d and expect the process to be more streamlined, both procedurally and financially, when more streets become pedestrian-friendly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t spend that when we\u2019ve had our Kensington streets on pedestrian Sundays. We don\u2019t have that on Market Street next to St. Lawrence Market. There are other little segments of pedestrian streets around the city where we don\u2019t have that level of security,\u201d Hess said. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand why you need that level of security.\u201d <\/p>\n